2010 Pull N Junk Playoffs: Junk - 2nd Quarter

Onto the best Junk from the 2nd Quarter of 2010

April

2009 UD Signature Stars #90 Ryan Garko
Garko somehow gets a card in a set that only contained 100 veteran players.

May

2008 Topps Mark Hendrickson

I bumped the scanner and the error wasn't worth correcting.   Tallest Pitcher in the game getting squashed by Topps Logo. 

June

2009 UD Piece of History - Historical Moments #177 Microwave Oven Invented

Do I really have to say anything about this?

1 - Ryan Garko
2 - Mark Hendrickson
3 - Microwave Oven

Please Vote in the Comments.

To Vote on the First Quarter Final for 2010 Jan-Mar Click Here!

Pull of the Month - April 2010 - Heritage Chrome Troy Tulowitzki

It is a good thing I got involved in the Cardboard Junkie Heritage Blaster League - or else I would have a very little fodder for Pull of the Month.


2010 Topps Heritage Chrome #C90 Troy Tulowitzki (#d 288/1961)

I was also pretty happy with this Topps Heritage Then & Now Insert that came out of the box.

2010 Topps Heritage Then & Now #TN10 Shutout Leaders Whitey Ford & Roy Halladay

Not exactly sure how Topps came up with this one. According to the card back Ford actually finished 8th in shutouts in 1961. And if the stat doesn't match up there isn't much of a reason to pair up the HoF lefty with The Phils new staff ace.

I could also mention some of the cards I picked up in a group break from Nachos Grande that would be Pull of the month worthy, but I am sticking to packs I actually opened this month.

Meh of the Month


2009 UD Signature Stars #90 Ryan Garko

This product only has 100 veterans and Ryan Garko gets a card marking his 40 games as a San Francisco Giant?

If you want to find out more about the rather bland UD Signature Stars set check out my pack break over at A Pack to be Named Later.

Previous Pull of the Month Posts

2010 March

2010 February

2010 January

Phungo 5 Pack - Topps 2009 Heritage Hi Numbers....

In lieu of getting a blaster I picked up 5 packs of the 09 Topps Heritage High Numbers at the Philly Card Show. If you want to read a specific pack break on the first pack check here for my post over at A Pack to be Named Later.

The five packs were as expected 30 heritage cards and 10 U&H cards. Every back broke down as 3 Heritage followed by 2 U&H then the insert and the final 2 heritage cards.

I got two Phils, The J A Happ card below and a John Mayberry card which is featured in the APtbNL post. Former Phil Jim Thome was also present.

This action shot of Thome may be picture 4 in the link.

The Inserts

Rookie Performers Tommy Hanson, Chrome Trevor Hoffman, and Then and Now featuring a player from my favorite AL team and my least favorite NL team. Hopefully Wright doesn't play long enough to be paired with Mike Schmidt in a future Heritage T&N. The other 2 inserts I picked up were short prints of Andrew McCutchen and Penn Alum Mark DeRosa.

Rookies

Picked up both versions of the Gerardo Parra card - he was the top of the rookies in the 5 packs other than McCutchen.

Etc
Photoshop anyone?? or did the Giants send Garko to spring training after picking him up on July 27th.

2009 Topps Card Show Blaster Break

I like Blasters, but I prefer Hobby packs to Retail.

Since Blasters are basically retail only, I decided to build my own Hobby Blaster.

I did this by going to a recent card show and getting the best deal on hobby packs that I could find and buying $20 worth of them - which is basically the cost of a blaster. I found a guy selling packs at 3 for $5 and picked up 12 of them here are the results:

Phungo 2009 Topps Hobby Blaster

97 Base Cards = 97/330 = 29% no duplicates, 2 Phillies #73 Victorino, #299 PSH Hamels WS MVP

1 WBC Redemption #6 1 Relic CBR-RG - Ryan Garko ("The Relic contained on this card is not from any specific game event or season")
1 Black Parallel #234 John Russell (28/58) this card is a duplicate of one of the base cards I recieved.

1 Turkey Red #TR41 Cole Hamels
3 Ring of Honor (17 Sheffield, 21 JohnnyPodres, 23 Mariano Rivera)
2 Legends of the Game (2 Honus Wagner, 15 Pee Wee Reese)

10 ToppsTown Silver (1,2,3,4,5,8,11,16,20,21) 1 duplicate (20 Berkman)
1 Topps Town Gold (24 Jay Bruce)

3 Topps Attax
1 David Wright Stay in School

That breaks down to 97 base, 20 inserts, 1 insert dupe. I am not at all sure of what the composition of a Blaster is for 2009, and the outcome of this faux blaster versus a real blaster is likely a bit better. I suppose the Relic and the Black Border are both considered premium hits and depending on the outcome of the WBC redemption it is hopefully a bonus hit.

I would have liked to have gotten a few more Phils in the 12 packs. Generally I like the look of the base cards and the photography is much improved over 2008.

Here are a couple of the Phillies related cards.


#299 Cole Hamels Post Season Highlights
#TR41 Turkey Red Cole Hamels
#6 Raul Ibanez

I was at the "Decisive Game Five" of the 2008 World Series mentioned on the back of the first Cole Hamels card. Yes, Victorino was the only regular Phils card I got in the 12 packs but the Turkey Red Hamels sort of makes up for it. Ibanez is the Phils big off-season pickup. I suspect this photo was taken at a Mariners Yankees weekend series in early May of 2008, as I have spotted several photos of the Mariners at Yankee Stadium in recent Topps sets.

Here are some of the other inserts.

CBR-RG Ryan Garko Relic
RH21 Ring of Honor Johnny Podres
#234 Black Parallel #28/58 John Russell

Thing I am happiest about in 2009 Topps - Improved photography. I am not sure I love the design on the face of the cards, but I think they make a better use of the real estate then the 08 Cards.

My biggest complaint about this years cards in general is the tiny tiny card numbers. The Black on Blue is virtual unreadable, as with teams like the Mariners and the Ibanez card.